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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28118583">i’ll come to thee by moonlight (though hell should bar the way)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelilacfield/pseuds/thelilacfield'>thelilacfield</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>there is no world where i am not yours [26]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M, Forbidden Love, Robbery, Taverns</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:40:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,868</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28118583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelilacfield/pseuds/thelilacfield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>But the highwayman in his carriage, though everything of the set-up matches the stories, is a woman.</p><p>Her dark hair tumbles down her back as she tries to pull the hood back up, long loose curls falling around her pretty face. And there’s fear filling her eyes as she tries to tug the scarf back around her mouth, and he’s gasping, “You’re-”</p><p>She throws the ring back at him, it clinks as it hits the floor of the carriage, and she pleads, “Don’t tell anyone,” before she is gone in a swoop of her cloak.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wanda Maximoff/Vision</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>there is no world where i am not yours [26]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859725</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i’ll come to thee by moonlight (though hell should bar the way)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>A/N: </strong>AU-dvent day 16! Closing in on the end of all this now! The only AU of this project where Vision is a prince, and he falls for highwayman Wanda, what's not to love!</p><p>Title from <em>The Highwayman</em> by Alfred Noyes.</p><p>I'm on Tumblr and Twitter<strong> @mximoffromanoff</strong> if anybody wants to chat about all things scarletvision! Enjoy, and please let me know with a comment if you do :)</p><hr/><p>Pausing outside the carriage to rub his fingers over his temples, trying to stave off the headache that's been threatening to approach all morning, Vision looks up and manages to smile when he sees Morgan lurking in the doorway to the stable, the grey cat with his crooked tail at her feet. "Does Mother know you're out here?" he asks, and his sister shakes her head, her eyes bright with mischief.</p><p>"She had to go see Daddy," she says, and Vision's chest tightens momentarily with the pang of worry for his father. He's been confined to bed since he returned from the battle, the infection in his wound worsening, and they've been trying to keep it hidden from Morgan, to keep her from worrying more than a four year old should. "She told me to stay in the drawing room but Smokey wanted to play."</p><p>"Smokey is a bad influence on you, Princess Tiny," Sam says, finishing harnessing the horses to the carriage and scooping Morgan up, ruffling her hair until she squeals. "Go find your mother and tell her to come say goodbye to her son. We're almost ready to go."</p><p>Morgan runs off, the cat trailing her with an imperious flick of his tail, and Sam turns to Vision, watching him fretfully playing with his fingers for a second. "It's gonna be okay, Vision," he says, his voice softer than the way he talks to Morgan. "We're gonna get the antidote from the Forest Kingdom, you're gonna meet your future bride, and then we can come back and organise some big fancy ball to celebrate the king's miraculous recovery."</p><p>"I know we'll get the antidote, that's not why I'm nervous," he says, and Sam shrugs.</p><p>"The marriage is arranged and has been for two years, it's not like this girl can turn you down," he says, and Vision shakes his head again. "What are you so scared of, big guy?"</p><p>"We have to travel on the highwayman roads," he says, and Sam's eyes go momentarily wide. Vision's voice shakes when he talks about it, continuing, "He nearly got Natasha last month. He <em>did</em> get Lord Barton, he's lucky his daughter is trained with a bow too. What if he attacks <em>us</em>?"</p><p>"You've trained with the dagger, even if you do prefer the books," Sam says with a lightness to his voice, as if they aren't talking about a figure who has become legendary in the year or so he's been roaming the forest roads. A figure who robs anyone he finds of their jewels and only spares lives when people beg for them. "Anyway, you know the routine if someone comes for you. You do what they say until I come to defend you."</p><p>"I can fight better than you think I can," Vision says petulantly, and Sam just laughs, adjusting his sword in the holster at his belt. Vision's dagger, even with the handle inlaid with glowing yellow citrine, rather pales in comparison.</p><p>"You're too soft to stab so much as a squirrel stealing your breakfast," he says, and Vision is prevented from retorting again when he sees his mother leaving the palace. She's pale with worry and lost sleep, and Morgan is balanced on her hip, clinging to the blue velvet of their mother's gown.</p><p>"Be careful out there, sweetheart," she says, and when she leans forward it's Morgan who kisses Vision's cheek, beaming up at him. And he has to return his sister's smile, her sweetness, hefting her into his arms for a lingering hug. "Don't worry too much. Your father is stable, and the healers promise he'll stay that way."</p><p>"I'll bring the cure back," Vision promises, a fierceness in his chest when he says it, and he sees the grateful tears well up in his mother's eyes. "He's going to be okay, Mother."</p><p>"I know," she says, and blinks before she gives him a smile. "You be nice to your betrothed, Vision. She's a sweet girl." She holds out her arms and sternly says, "Morgan, honey, let your brother go. He has to get through the woods before dark."</p><p>"Will you bring me a present?" Morgan asks, widening her eyes pleadingly, and Vision smiles, kissing his sister's forehead.</p><p>"I hear the princess has a beautiful garden," he says, and Morgan beams. "I'll bring you some flowers."</p><p>"And chocolate?" Morgan asks, hopeful and young and innocent, and he nods. That satisfies her enough that she lets go of him, leaving a crease in the thin fabric of his shirt, and slides to the ground, back to their mother's skirts.</p><p>Vision kisses his mother's cheek and climbs into the carriage, Sam already whistling as he sets the horses trotting, and he turns back to watch Morgan follow the carriage to the gates, waving, almost tumbling over her own feet. For the sake of his sister, her bright eyes and her energy and her hope in everything being bright and wonderful, he has to get the antidote for their father's infection. He has to make nice with the kingdom and meet his betrothed, even if he has little interest in marrying her. He pulls the box containing his grandmother's ring from his pack, stroking a thumb over the richly green emerald in its intricate setting of braided gold, steeling himself. This has to be the right path.</p><p>As the road slopes down out of the mountains and into the forests, he opens the door to the carriage and leans out, hauling himself up to sit next to Sam. He gazes down at the glossy backs of the horses, their ears flicking back and forth against the dark clusters of insects beneath the canopy of leaves, and Sam lets him sit there for a whole silent minute before he says, "I haven't seen you this antsy since that very handsome lord stopped by over winter." Colour blooms hot on Vision's cheeks, and Sam chuckles low in his chest before he adds, "But honestly. Talk to me. We're travelling to get the antidote for your father's infection and meet your pretty little fiancée. What are you so scared of?"</p><p>"I don't know." The words come out quiet, tinged with a melancholy that weighs heavier beneath the trees, in the gloom. "I know that Princess Amanda is renowned as kind and gentle. We've been betrothed since we both turned sixteen. King Gustav has already promised that his men have found the correct antidote and it will have my father back on his feet quickly. Everything is perfect." He runs a nail over the ridge of an embroidered pattern on his jacket, and says, "It just...I don't feel like this is right. Like this is what I was meant for."</p><p>"You were meant to be king," Sam says, and Vision feels the phantom weight of the kingdom crown on his head, the heavy gold adorned with rubies and diamonds. "But in the meantime, these are just the things you have to do. And I do feel terribly sorry for you, being engaged to a beautiful princess without ever actually having to put in the time to court her. That must weigh so heavily on you."</p><p>"Just because you have no luck with the ladies down at the tavern-"</p><p>"Well, there is a very handsome new tavern assistant in town," Sam says with a roguish waggle of his eyebrows. Vision just shakes his head and settles back against the rhythm of the carriage bumping over the rougher forest roads. "Oh come on, save your melancholy for the castle battlements on moonlit nights. When was the last time we had the chance to be alone?"</p><p>"Do you think I should try to court the princess?" Vision asks, and Sam turns to look at him as the horses continue their plodding pace without needing a prompt.</p><p>"You're bringing her a family engagement ring," he points out, sound logic if Vision has ever heard it. But something is stirring in his chest, memories of Pepper's stories of the king courting her, the softness in her eyes whenever they talk about their past. Why should the fact that his marriage was arranged take that future away from his bride?</p><p>"But I could bring her something more personal," he says, suddenly fretful. "Oh, if only I'd thought of this back at the castle, I could have brought her flowers or baking. Maybe...maybe wildflowers!"</p><p>"I am not stopping the horses so you can frolic off the path looking for flowers like some little kid in a bedtime tale," Sam says, spurring the horses on as if to make that point clearer. "I know you fancy yourself a storybook prince, but indulging you is far above my pay grade."</p><p>Rolling his eyes, Vision leans back against the side of the carriage. The horses snort, and they roll along the roads, the rhythmic bump of the carriage starting to soothe him to sleep until they come to an abrupt halt and he startles awake. "What?" he asks, and Sam gestures at the tree lying across the road.</p><p>"Get in the carriage," he says, and he's climbing down from the carriage, soothing the nervous horses. "I heard this is the highwayman's tactic. You have your dagger, yes?"</p><p>"Sam, it's just a tree, the storms have been terrible lately-"</p><p>"Please get in the carriage, I don't want to argue with your mother when she finds out I didn't protect her son," Sam says, and Vision huffs and climbs back into the carriage.</p><p>The highwayman is waiting for him, the velvet bag that contains the engagement ring he was planning to gift Princess Amanda in his hand. And their eyes lift as they smile, the green of them almost as flawlessly perfect as the jewel against their dark glove.</p><p>"Please don't take that," he says softly, his hand on the jewelled hilt of his dagger. "I'm planning to gift that to my betrothed. I'll give you anything but that ring."</p><p>"But I want the ring," they say, and he flinches at the sound of that voice. Deep as everyone said, dangerous and sharp and dark. Their eyes fall to his hand on his dagger and they laugh. "You want it? Come and get it."</p><p>He dives for the ring, and they dodge, almost past him. But he's tall enough for them to get tangled in him, and in the ensuing struggle for the ring their hood falls, the scarf covering the lower half of their face slipping down around a pale, slender neck.</p><p>And he blinks. The highwayman has haunted the roads for two years, and survivors reported a young man, dark-haired, jaw shadowed with stubble. But the highwayman in his carriage, though everything of the set-up matches the stories, is a woman.</p><p>Her dark hair tumbles down her back as she tries to pull the hood back up, long loose curls falling around her pretty face. And there's fear filling her eyes as she tries to tug the scarf back around her mouth, and he's gasping, "You're-"</p><p>She throws the ring back at him, it clinks as it hits the floor of the carriage, and she pleads, "Don't tell anyone," before she is gone in a swoop of her cloak.</p><p>Sam comes rushing back, sword held out in front of him, frantically saying, "I saw him go, Vision, are you alright? Did he hurt you?"</p><p>And Vision just stares at the spot where her cloak swirled away as she vanished, the world bright with shades of those green eyes.</p><hr/><p>They spend three days in the warm embrace of the family of the Forest Kingdom. King Gustav is a gentle man despite a gruff voice, and clearly dotes on his daughter. Vision's betrothed is a pretty girl, her dark hair and her dancing eyes, and she smiles when he dips his head in a bow and greets her with a warm, "Princess Amanda. It's an honour."</p><p>"Please, Prince Victor, call me Mantis," she says, and he smiles.</p><p>"Then I have to insist you call me Vision," he says, and there's a moment of warm connection between them. But the ring he offers her reminds him of the girl in the highwayman's costume, those eyes the green of the forest flourishing around them, and he blinks away the memory of her face.</p><p>When they leave, carriage rattling along the roads again, Vision has the precious vial of the antidote to his father's infection in his hands, and Sam is grinning under the heavy beat of the sun. "That went well," he observes cheerfully. "We'll have you home by sunset, and your father back to his usual self by midnight. Everything's coming up roses, my friend."</p><p>"Do you think we'll see the highwayman again?" he asks, trying to keep the interest out of his voice. He only wants to know what happened to that young woman, why she had been reduced to robbing carriages disguised as a man. Something about her is intriguing, making him want to know more.</p><p>"I think he will know better now than to mess with you," Sam says admiringly, and Vision twitches. He should never have lied to his friend, but somehow he couldn't betray the strange woman's secret. "How did you get rid of him?"</p><p>"I don't think I did anything," he says, the tips of his ears flaming red with embarrassment. "I think he heard you returning and decided the ring wasn't worth it."</p><p>"An emerald wasn't worth it?" Sam asks, and Vision thinks of the ring he left on Mantis' finger, gleaming when he kissed his betrothed's cheek in farewell. Until they set a wedding date, then she'll come to his castle permanently. He'll be married to her, but that thought feels very far away. "I don't think this highwayman is much of a thief, you know."</p><p>The tiniest sound of a laugh leaves Vision's lips, and Sam grins. "I hope we don't run into them again," he says, and Sam shakes his head.</p><p>"I'm telling you, he won't dare," he says. "And when we get back, we tell everyone the highwayman attacked their beloved storybook prince, and they catch him before your wedding. I wouldn't want your lovely betrothed getting attacked."</p><p>Vision falls silent for much of the journey back, his mind caught in tangles. Now that he's met his betrothed, tradition dictates they should be married within six months. He can begin thinking of plans, contacting local decorators and bakers and seamstresses to craft the perfect wedding. The union of forest and water, imagining her dark eyes sparkling at him from beneath a lace veil. Mantis is kind and gentle, and her hand on his elbow was so delicate when she showed him around her castle's lavish gardens, and they will make the perfect couple.</p><p>So perfect that he doesn't understand why his heart is stirred by the thought of green eyes and a tumble of dark hair. Why that woman's frightened face creeps into his daydreams, the dark material of her cloak falling around her, her voice ringing through him.</p><p>He's only distracted from thinking of her by his mother at the gates, the relief spilling into her face when he pulls the vial of the antidote out of his pocket. Running to his father's chambers with her, flinching at how his condition has worsened while he's been gone, the dark colour creeping through his veins towards his heart. "I'm here, Father," he says softly, and his mother is watching him with sad eyes as he guides the vial to his father's lips. "Drink this."</p><p>A tremulous silence holds after he's watched his father drain the green liquid, both him and his mother watching. So slowly, the darkness in his veins starts to retreat, and his father blinks at him, his eyes clear and sharp for the first time since his knight's brought him home unconscious. "The hell was in that?" he asks, and his mother squeaks out a wet laugh.</p><p>"Something from the Forest Kingdom, one of the plants that only grows there," Vision says, and his father grimaces.</p><p>"Disgusting," he remarks, and Vision smiles, relieved tears stinging his eyes. His father will live to see him married, he won't unexpectedly become king. He will have someone to talk to about the mysterious woman. His father grins at him, and then his eyes slant to his mother. "Hey, Pep. Miss me?"</p><p>"Oh, shut up," she breathes, and leans across the bed to kiss him. And Vision slides out of the room to allow his parents their moment, catching the whisk of a cat's tail disappearing around the corner of the corridor and smiling when he hears Morgan squeal.</p><p>He walks up to the battlements of the castle, looking out over the sprawl of the kingdom. The moon silvers the sprawl of the grounds, and hearth fires flicker in the village. The forest rises dark against the sky, the pointed tops of the trees, and he looks out and wonders where the woman is tonight.</p><hr/><p>He's only been to the tavern closest to the castle, and never alone. That is frequented by castle servants, by his father's knights, people who ruffle his hair and greet him as an equal. But The Crooked Witch is closer to the forest, full of more unsavoury characters, and as he slips inside he tugs at the dark hood of his cloak to make sure his face is covered. He's not sure what people like this would do if they discovered the crown prince among them.</p><p>The bartender is a dark-haired woman in a dress cut so low he averts his eyes when she leans over the bar, her smile the kind of sweet he's seen across ballrooms between knights and daughters of nobles looking to scandalise their fathers. "What can I get you, sugar?"</p><p>"I, um...I'm looking for someone," he says, and gives her a polite smile. "I thought she might have passed through."</p><p>"A lot of people pass through," she says, and she's still leaning heavily on the bar to deepen her cleavage, and he's almost looking at the ceiling. "Who are they, sweetheart? Maybe I know them."</p><p>"A woman," he says, and she laughs.</p><p>"Shit, honey, you'll need to be more specific than that," she says, and he blushes.</p><p>"She has dark hair," he says, and the woman nods. "Green eyes. She's, um, very pale. Might have been wearing a black cloak and carrying a weapon."</p><p>"What did she do to you, darling?" she asks. "Break your heart? Run off with your friend? Murder your horse? I've heard it all and then some, sweetheart."</p><p>"I just...want to find her," he says, and the bartender just smirks, her fingers dancing over the inside of his wrist.</p><p>"I think I might know who you're talking about," she says, and smirks. "Why don't you come upstairs and we can talk more?"</p><p>"Agatha!" The shout across the tavern is familiar, and his head whips around in hope. And she's <em>there</em>, the same tumble of dark hair and enchanting eyes, dressed in a long deep red tunic and tight black leggings that set his head spinning. A dagger gleams at her hips and her boots thud in heavy footsteps when she crosses the room and leans across the bar to glare at the bartender. "Leave him alone. He's with me."</p><p>"You should've said so, sugar, you know I'm not in the habit of sharing my toys," the bartender says, and casts an appraising eye over Vision that makes heat flood his face. "Since when did you start seeing princes, Wanda? Quite the upgrade."</p><p>"I'm not seeing him," she snaps. "He's a fool who came here looking for me when everyone here would love to put a ransom on the prince's head." She grabs his elbow and drags him behind the bar and out of a back door, into a space that spills into the forest, owls calling eerily beneath the moonlight and the trees waltzing with the wind. And she glares up at him and snaps, "What are you doing here? I stole nothing from you."</p><p>"I just..." He has an explanation, he truly does. But something about her is so distracting, his head still wrapped up in knowing that her name is Wanda, in processing the freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, in seeing her without a cloak covering her. "I wanted to find you."</p><p>"Well, you've found me," she says. "Now leave. Before anyone recognises you."</p><p>"But...I want to talk," he says, and she sighs, the toe of her heavy boot tapping. "I want to know...why?"</p><p>"Why I tried to steal from you?" she asks, arching an eyebrow. "What else is a girl alone in the woods to do? It was that or prostitute myself."</p><p>"I want to know why you didn't take the ring," he says softly, and something startled floods her face. "I want to know how the highwayman who has been haunting the roads for two years is a woman when I heard reports of a young man. I want to know <em>why</em>."</p><p>"Because my brother died six months ago," she says sharply, and he startles. "He was the one doing it. We had no money, no home, no prospects. And he started stealing just so we would have money for rooms in inns and some food. And then he was wounded by some lord's daughter with a bow and arrow, and...the wound became infected. He caught a fever. There was nothing I could do but watch him die."</p><p>"I'm so sorry-"</p><p>"Oh, don't preach to me, <em>prince</em>," she spits, like his title is an insult. "What do you know about <em>loss</em>? What do you know about being so desperate you take your brother's clothes and go out to rob another carriage hours after his death?"</p><p>"I don't," he says simply, and she blinks at him. "I know who I am. I'm a royal, and I can't pretend I understand anything about the struggle of the poorer folk. But I...I want to help. I don't want anyone to have to steal to live."</p><p>"And that's why you came looking for me?" she asks, and he flushes. "Just to tell me you want to change things for people like me?" She stares up at him, steel in her eyes, and tosses her hair as she turns on her heel away from him. "Well, I'm honoured, <em>prince</em>, but-"</p><p>"My name is Vision," he says softly, and she turns to look at him. There's something about the stars silver in her eyes, her pale skin against the moonlight, and he feels as if he's stepped into a story. Not the prince with a princess waiting for him, their wedding just weeks away, but a man infatuated with a woman he cannot have.</p><p>"Strange name for a prince," she says, and he laughs slightly, the sound cracked and nervous.</p><p>"It's a childhood nickname that stuck," he says, and she smiles slightly. The way her lips curve makes his heart skip a beat, and he has to clear his throat to compose himself. "Please, Wanda. I didn't come looking for you just to tell you what reforms I hope to make when I'm crowned king. That won't be until I'm twenty-five."</p><p>"Then why did you come looking for me?" she asks, and he takes a deep breath to steady himself.</p><p>"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since you dropped my ring and ran from my carriage," he says, and her gaze drops away from his. She shifts from foot to foot in those too-big boots, and he wants to move towards her.</p><p>But he doesn't know how. It's one thing to be with Mantis, his arranged bride, to have her hand in the crook of his elbow and a ring from the castle collection sparkling on her hand. It's quite another to be near a woman he barely knows, a woman he is so drawn to, a woman he wants to be part of his story.</p><p>"I'm sure any prince would be concerned about a criminal on the path to his betrothed," she says, and he shakes his head.</p><p>"That's not why I can't stop thinking about you," he says, and he pushes himself to take the step towards her, to look at her in the moonlight. The collar of her red tunic lying open, pale skin and the shape of her collarbones for his greedy eyes, and he swallows thickly before he next speaks. "Wanda, I-"</p><p>"Don't," she whispers. "Whatever you're about to say, it's impossible. You are a prince, betrothed to a princess. And I'm the notorious highwayman of the forest roads."</p><p>"At least tell me you've been thinking of me too," he pleads, and her eyes flicker over him. Lingering just long enough for him to read something into it before she walks away, back into the bright bustle of the tavern, leaving him alone in the cold.</p><hr/><p>One week before his wedding, he wakes to the triumphant laughter of his father's knights. He runs to see Wanda held between them, her frightened face bloodied with struggle, her knife tossed by a knight at his father's feet. "The highwayman, my lord," he says, and Vision's hand flies to his mouth where he watches from the balcony overlooking the grand entrance. "What do you want done with her?"</p><p>"The dungeons," his father says, and turns away. But Vision can do nothing but watch as Wanda is dragged away, her dark cloak dragging on the marble, her eyes flickering up to find his before she is gone, to the damp and draughty dungeons.</p><p>And he's running down the stairs to his father's side, walking with him, frantically saying, "Father, she's not dangerous-"</p><p>"She attacked your carriage not more than three months ago," his father says, one eyebrow rising incredulously.</p><p>"And she took <em>nothing</em>," he insists. "She didn't so much as scratch me, Father. She...she is only trying to get by. She is <em>struggling</em>. Her brother died and she's all alone and she can't get by any other way except selling herself, it's not <em>fair</em>-"</p><p>"What has she done to you, Vision?" his father asks, eyeing him suspiciously. "Goodness, do you fancy yourself her hero? The knight in shining armour?"</p><p>"I want to help <em>everyone</em> like her," he insists. "No one should have to steal or sell themselves to survive. Please, Father, <em>please</em>, don't put her to death."</p><p>"Who said anything about a death sentence?" he asks, his hands swept out wide in a gesture of surrender. "Please, Vision, we're not talking about anything worse than a spell in prison. Please, if the advisors hear you pleading on her behalf it will be worse."</p><p>"You can't let them, Father-"</p><p>"Why don't you see if she loves you too before you throw yourself on a sword for her," his father says, and he blushes. He runs away, into the sprawl of their gardens, the lake that sweeps behind the grey stone of the palace, his chest aching.</p><p>He finds his betrothed sitting there, a book in her lap and a cat curled at her feet. And she looks up and finds him and whispers, "Hi. I'm hiding from the seamstress."</p><p>When he looks a little ways off, her pretty redheaded personal guard is standing near, the dark chainmail of her dress gleaming under the sunlight, and her eyes narrow when Vision sits down next to his betrothed. But Mantis smiles, tucking her book away and wrapping a hand over his shoulder, resting her cheek against him. "Are you alright?" she asks, and he shakes his head. "Do you want to talk about it?"</p><p>"I'm in love, Mantis," he groans, and then flushes when her eyes go wide. "Oh, not with you. Oh, I...I shouldn't have said that, that was rude, I...goodness, I'm so sorry, I-"</p><p>She puts a finger to his lips and asks, "Is it with that very lovely woman they just arrested for being the forest highwayman?" He blushes, but nods miserably, and she smiles. "How do you know?"</p><p>"I know it seems silly, we've only met twice before now," he says. "And one of those times she tried to <em>rob</em> me. But, I...I know from stories how this is supposed to feel. I shared that moment of magic with her, I know I did. And maybe I'm crazy, but-"</p><p>"You sound crazy," she says sweetly, and kisses his cheek. "But if you want to call off our wedding, I am happy to."</p><p>"Oh, Princess, I couldn't do that to you-"</p><p>"I can't marry a man in love with someone else," she says, and then smiles secretively. "And besides, I...I have my own infatuation my father would never approve of." Her gaze slants away from him, and he follows her eyes to her guard.</p><p>"You two are-"</p><p>"It's been two years now," she says softly, and he smiles. He wants that for himself, and he's glad for his friend. As he watches, Mantis slides the emerald ring from her finger and presses it gently into his palm. "I believe there is someone else you want to give this ring to."</p><p>He kisses her cheek and breathes, "Thank you," onto her skin. And she just smiles, and when he turns back briefly he sees her pretty guard coming to her side, sees them kiss against the sunlit backdrop of the lake, and smiles.</p><p>The dungeons are dark and dusty, and a guard steps in front of me when he makes for the cell Wanda is locked in. "I wouldn't be alone with her, my lord," he says. "She's dangerous."</p><p>"I want a word alone with her," Vision says sternly, summoning all the haughty authority of being a prince to his voice. And the guard just stoops in a bow and leaves them alone, and he rushes to the bars of the cell Wanda is held in.</p><p>Her eyes are dark, a bruise blooming across the left side of her face and a cut over her eyebrow, and he reaches for her through the bars, taking her cold hands in his. "I'm so sorry," he whispers, and she shrugs.</p><p>"I knew what I was doing might get me caught," she says. "Besides, I...I made a mistake, coming so close to the palace. But I..." She stops talking, and he squeezes her fingers tight between his.</p><p>"What?" he asks, softly encouraging, and she gives him a sad shadow of a smile.</p><p>"I wanted to see you," she says, and he soars. "I found out you're getting married next week, and I...something compelled me to come here and see you before you become the prince with a perfect princess." She gives a hollow laugh and says, "Seems I'm the fool between us."</p><p>"Perhaps not," he whispers, and pulls the key he snagged from the guard's belt from behind his back. It sticks in the lock of her cell, and for a moment he fears he took the wrong key.</p><p>But then it clicks, and she steps out, and stares at him wide-eyed. "Why...why would you-"</p><p>"I'm not getting married," he says softly, and presses the ring into the softness of her palm, closing her fingers around it. "You wanted this ring? Take it. It's yours. Sell it, it should be worth enough to get you by."</p><p>"You...you're not getting married?" she asks, and he shakes his head, hoping he isn't fooling himself to see hope brightening her eyes. "Vision-"</p><p>"Will you meet me at the Crooked Witch tomorrow night?" he asks, and she nods. "Good. Now run, before anyone realises you've been let out. I'll lock the door behind you and return the key to the guard. No one will ever know I freed you."</p><p>"You're a fool," she breathes.</p><p>"Only for you," he whispers, and then she's kissing him, her hand in his hair, and all the breath is rushing out of him against her lips, and everything is tangled up in her, the briefest moment of contact before she pulls away and gives him a last smile before she runs.</p><p>He spends the night and half the day guarded in his rooms while the guards scour the palace and the grounds for their escaped prisoner. It's Mantis who distracts them with enough hysterics over being at knifepoint in her bed to let him leave, spurring his horse through the village to the edge of the woods and the tavern with firelight flickering in its windows. It's loud and rowdy and the moment he steps through the door without a hood to hide his face every eye turns to him.</p><p>"Well, well, well," comes a breath, and a man is standing from his seat, already drawing his dagger from its sheath. "The little prince. What brings you out here?"</p><p>"Stand down, Zemo." Her voice sings through him, and when he looks at her she damn near takes his breath away. She's wearing a dress, red as her painted lips, tight to her figure, and his head spins when she crosses the room and takes his hand. "He's mine."</p><p>"I did wonder why you were so dressed up tonight, Wanda," the bartender says, grinning as she leans across the bar. "I know it isn't for little old me. Your figure does nothing for me." Her eyes flicker over Vision and her smirks grows, "Your golden boy, on the other hand-"</p><p>"Oh, shut up, Agatha," Wanda says, and the next thing Vision knows she's kissing him, the silk of her dress rustling as her body bows into his, and he's helpless to do anything but let her pull him closer.</p><p>When they break apart, he's blushing, and Agatha is grinning at him. "So our little highwayman stole more than jewels from you?" she asks, and he smiles at Wanda, her lipstick smeared with kissing and her freckles in the moonlight spilling through the hole-speckled roof.</p><p>"She did," he whispers, and kisses her again. It grows much too passionate for polite company, her tongue flickering against his and making him whimper against her mouth, a handful of her silk skirts wrapped in his fist, and there's a clunk that draws him reeling away from her, gasping for air.</p><p>"If you wanted the key to upstairs, you only needed to ask, I don't need a demonstration," Agatha says, and nudges a rusted key towards them.</p><p>And he's hypnotised by the way Wanda takes it gently between her fingers, pulling her lower lip between her teeth, her eyes shining. "Do you want to spend the night with the forest highwayman?" she asks.</p><p>"<em>Yes</em>." Her fingers tangle between his to draw him into the moon-bathed upstairs, and his storybook soul sings when her lips meet his.</p>
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